At 01:47 PM 11/13/2005, fotofx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
I hear where you are coming from, but how amateurs and students
lower pricing is this...
Les, you give no reason in your lengthy posting why an amateur or
student shouldn't give away their work. That it affects you is your
problem, and yours to solve. Markets change all the time. If there
are plenty of people who will give away work, or signficantly
underprice you, then you need to change what you do. Unless we have
a state-directed economy, that's the way it works.
I have found with the sports that I shoot that the number one
differentiator is access. I get to shoot boxing at ringside, through
the ropes, along with a half dozen other photographers. Everyone
else shoots from a seat through the ropes. I compete with some of
the other photographers with access on the quality of my images. I
go to the boxing gyms regularly before a fight and study the moves
and practice shooting with a slower camera than I use during the
fights, just to get my reflexes tuned. The photo I mentioned being
used across the web is here -
http://www.spirer.com/michaelm/images/mm22.jpg. Nobody else got this
photo or anything close to it, so I got the money. That's the way I
have to play it - access and practice kept me ahead.
I don't see what your point can be. That you want controls to keep
amateurs and students from giving their work away? How is this
administered? Who makes the decisions? Your post sounds like
complaining instead of thinking about what to do and planning how to
stay ahead given what other people can and will do.
Jeff Spirer
Photos: http://www.spirer.com
One People: http://www.onepeople.com/
Surfaces and Marks: http://www.withoutgrass.com
